1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to systems for human learning of natural languages and human language analysis.
2. Background Art
Second language instruction is often taught in a prescribed linear fashion—introducing verb tenses one after another, long lists of vocabulary and grammar exercises. However, children learn their first language by daily immersion at home or in other informal contexts, by understanding the spoken language and eventually speaking; reading, writing, and grammar study are done in formal school contexts. Language learning methodologies have historically utilized teaching methodologies based on educational norms, rather than language usage norms. Given the empirical information available from corpus linguistic research (cf. Biber, Variation Across Speech and Writing, 1988; Biber et al., Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, 1999), the English language can be much more accurately described and predicted in terms of the frequency, co-occurrence, and distribution of a wide variety of linguistic structures in relation to their context of use. This information opens the door for language instruction that is based on actual use of the language, not on language teacher intuition or educational notions of simplicity, complexity, or learning order.
The prior art develops language learning materials such as: books, CD-ROMs, or audio tapes that are static over time or that focus on a very specific aspect of learning (pronunciation for example). Even Internet based language learning materials are mostly static. Additionally, there is no emphasis on a “language core” developed by analyzing modern language usage and creating programs to introduce are this material on a systematic basis. Recent work in corpus linguistics (see Biber et al., 1999) has identified key linguistic characteristics associated with different types of language usage, but a systematic methodology for utilizing the results of corpus linguistics has not been developed.
The teaching of second (or third or higher) natural languages to persons is ordinarily a haphazard affair, especially when the person to be trained is interested particularly in gaining both a base familiarity with the language as well as specific familiarity with a subject area or areas (e.g., computer science or contract law). The present invention provides a means for developing a systematic curriculum.
Prior art generally relevant to the present invention includes: U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,383, entitled “Method and system for computer assisted natural language instruction with distracters”, discloses use of automatic speech recognition to help with pronunciation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,913, entitled “Method and apparatus for estimating fitness to perform tasks based on linguistic and other aspects of spoken responses in constrained interactions”, discloses voice recognition that determines a users “fitness” to perform a task. U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,085, entitled “Technology assisted learning”, discloses a system that tailors learner activities based on feedback from learners, with a computerized database of language elements to be learned. U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,202, entitled “Method and system for aiding foreign language instruction”, discloses use of audio/visual materials with stories broken into segments and having a dictionary mode. U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,599, entitled “Interactive audio/visual foreign language skills maintenance system and method”, discloses displaying a story including soundtrack, text corresponding to sound track in segments, subtitles displayed with audio and video, and selectively pausing playback to allow students to respond. U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,050, entitled “Natural language understanding system”, discloses a system for having voice activated commands. U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,693, entitled “Method and device for learning a foreign language”, discloses a verbal learning method requiring memorization of conjugations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,498, entitled “System for retrieving phrases from generated retrieval word”, discloses a handheld translation device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,737, entitled “Mechanism for generating linguistic expressions based on synonyms and rules derived from examples”, discloses a tool that induces linguistic rules from particular examples. U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,345, entitled “Interactive audio/visual control mechanism” discloses a computer learning system with audio/visual player for language learning. U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,976, entitled “Apparatus and method for building domain specific language models”, discloses building of domain specific language models, for speech recognition, which uses the concept of corpus and sub-corpus. U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,398, entitled “Information retrieval system for analyzing Internet documents”, discloses such a system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,368, entitled “Method and system for identifying significant topics of a document”, discloses extraction of lists of simplex noun phrases and processes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,114, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Dynamic Relevance Ranking”, discloses filtering of incoming documents to screen using predefined profile. U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,405, entitled “Methods for part of speech determination and usage”, discloses a database of words likely to appear in a message, looks at adjacent words, does frequency analysis on part of speech. U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,386, entitled “Interactive educational apparatus and method”, discloses an interactive CD based learning tool.